6/7/08 racing

More breeze! Had 12-20kts for races 5 and 6 yesterday. 88 did well, with 2 more 1sts. It was me, Frank on main/spin, Jocelyn on jib/pit and Niki on bow/grinder.

Glad we had more normal local weather than the last 2 race days, which were NW, which I find tricky to figure out. We had good breeze out of the south today, going between around 180 and 220. Our main/spin trimmer picked up on the shift and pressure pattern early, and we were able to capitalize on it. Clouds would bring more breeze when they came in overheard, and then as soon as they passed it would get lighter until the next set. Also, the wind went right reliably in the puffs, and left in the lulls. There was quite a bit of chop for S wind, especially later in the day on starboard, where it was like driving into a ditch, over and over again!

First race we wanted to be able to get right early, but the pin was favored, so we started about 1/3 of the way off the pin. About 5 seconds late but had good speed. I feel like we have very good upwind boatspeed, and were able to round second to Kevin in 150, after we overstood quite a bit. A very quick run today, with the waves really providing a lot of speed, and we rounded the bottom again in first, having caught 150 when they ran over their spinnaker. We were able to get ahead on the shifts upwind and led the rest of the race to finish 1st, followed by 150, 196 and 63.

Almost missed the second race! We were goofing around too far from the start trying to get the jib halyard right, and ended up sailing full speed to the start, and were at the boat with 10 seconds left. Really wanted the pin, but I'm just glad we made it! 150 jumped to an early lead, and followed them out to the right. They again led the 1st run, and it wasn't until the 3rd upwind leg that we were able to get ahead. Kevin knows me pretty well, and actually kind of tricked us into a tacking duel, and got us out of phase for a while. Once we stopped tacking so much we pulled away a bit, played the shifts and finished in the same order as the first race.

Lot of fun today, and we now have 8 points, with 196 having 16 and 150 with 20.

The crew we have has really helped me get more on top of weather. I'm normally a big boatspeed guy that tacks when the compass says so, but all our dinghy sailors seem to know a lot about more big picture weather. Especially today with the cloud patterns, I don't know if I would have got that on my own.

We also got the boat dialed in in the big waves and breeze. I find we're sailing the boat different than Kevin and I sailed 150. When I trimmed main there, it would always be backstay on/feather up hard in puffs, and with Frank trimming main it's been more traveller down hard/stay course. Not sure whats faster honestly, they both seem to work pretty good, but in general I feel faster and lower when we're sailing the way we want to. Luckily we can still really get into a high mode as well, working off jib and main sheet.

Tune was similar to last week. Headstay was about 47.75", lowers were very tight (like 450lbs) and the uppers were 850.

Someone on the RC boat keep taking photos, I'll see if I can get a few!